Photo: Jacobs’ Zach Albrecht had a great day at the FVC Championships including a 4:19 1600 (Jacobs HS Track Photo Credit)

By Michael Newman

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This is the busiest week of the Illinois indoor season with so many meets going on leading up to the Illinois Top Times Championships on March 23 & 24.

There have been some great performances that have occurred in the meets through Wednesday. Here are some of the highlights from some of those meets.

Big 12 Indoor Championships @ Shirk Center

The Girls meet on Monday in this conference was the first of many meets that will take place over the next two weeks at Illinois Wesleyan University’s Shirk Center. Urbana used their depth and some timely scoring to win the team title with 97 points. Normal Community West finished second (77.5 points) ahead of Danville. Urbana won despite some great performances from Danville’s Ameia Wilson and Shanice Garbutt who won five individuals between them.

Wilson won three events including two on the track. She dominated both sprint races winning the 60 Meter Dash (7.61) just off her seasonal best of her state leading 7.58. Wilson came back later in the 200 Meter Dash running 25.56 to win by almost a second ahead of Urbana’s Jyana Anderson (26.40). Wilson also jumped 18-8.75 to win the Long Jump. She came in second in the 400 Meter Dash as she was looking for her fourth individual win. Urbana’s Kynzee Boastick got the win ahead of Wilson (1:02.24).

Garbutt picked up her wins in the distance events winning ahead of Urbana’s Libby Cultra in both races. Garbutt ran an indoor personal best of 11:19.32 to win the 3200 Meter Run ahead of Cultra (11:33.11). The next runners were nearly 60 seconds behind. The story was the same in the 1600 Meter Run as Garbutt’s 5:24.04 was good enough for the win ahead of Urbana’s Cultra (5:27.72) and Chian Scott (5:29.53).

Urbana picked up wins in the 800 Meter Relay (1:48.36) and the 1600 Meter Relay (4:21.32). The Tigers also picked up a 1-2 finish from Diamonasia Taylor and Shaniya Howard in the High Jump. Both athletes cleared seasonal bests of 5-6 with Taylor getting the win on fewer misses.

Bloomington dominated the Boys meet the following night winning with 142 points ahead of Danville (64 points) and Normal Community (58 points). Bloomington’s strength came in the field events winning three of the five scheduled events. Zachery Bradford set a new meet record when he cleared 17-6 to easily win the Pole Vault. Three days earlier, Bradford won the National Indoor Championship in the event. Bloomington also got a 1-2 finish in the Long Jump from Drew Crooks (20-9.5) and Mauliek Johnson (20-8.5). James Ellis was the final Bloomington winner in the field events as he cleared 6-2 in the High Jump to win on fewer misses.

Bloomington’s depth paved the way on the track as they picked up only two individual wins. The Purple Raiders ran 1:35.06 to win the 800 Meter Relay to win by only eight hundredths of a second ahead of Urbana (1:35.14). Jante Hatfield was Bloomington’s other track winner as he ran 9.02 to win the 60 Meter Hurdles.

The best distance race of the night was in the 3200 Meter Run. Charlie Wetzel of Normal West ran a personal best 9:36.30 to win by nine seconds ahead of Bloomington’s Nick Doud (9:45.96). Phillip Hall of Danville won a tactical 800 Meter Run (2:05.17) ahead of Bloomington’s Austin Bicknell (2:06.71) Hall finished together with teammate Sincere Davis in the 1600 Meter Run with Davis getting the win (4:36.93-4:36.94).

Fox Valley Boys Conference @ Huntley

Huntley were “rude” hosts in this meet winning the conference title with 129 points ahead of Dundee-Crown (79 points) and Jacobs (59 points). Dubem Anikamadu led the Raiders to the team win winning two individual events as well as a part of a winning relay team. The senior ran a seasonal best of 6.93 to win the 60 Meter Dash ahead of teammate Eric Mooney (7.12). Anikamadu came back to win the 200 Meter Dash (22.58). He was also a part of Huntley’s winning 800 Meter Relay (1:33.34) ahead of Dundee-Crown (1:34.06).

The distance events were superb in this meet. Three runners were under two minutes in the 800 Meter Run with Prairie Ridge’s Grant Jensen getting the win (1:57.89) ahead of Dundee-Crown’s Adam Swanson (1:58.61) and Huntley’s Chris Simek (1:59.47). Crystal Lake South’s Jack Becker moved into the top ten state-wide in the 3200 Meter Run (9:28.28) winning by nine seconds ahead of McHenry’s Andrew Pilat (9:37.93).

Zach Albrecht of Jacobs had a great night as he was a part of two winning relays as well as an individual win. He lowered his indoor personal best to 4:19.82 to win the 1600 Meter Run by less than two seconds ahead of Huntley’s Jadon Conroy (4:21.42). Earlier in the meet, Albrecht ran a 1:57 leg to help Jacobs win the 3200 Meter Relay (8:09.67). He also ran a 52 second split on Jacobs’s winning 1600 Meter Relay (3:36.25) ahead of Dundee-Crown (3:38.81).

The best field event performance of the meet belonged to Andrew Stokes of Cary-Grove in the Shot Put. Stokes achieved a personal best of 55-6.5 to win the event by more than two feet ahead of McHenry’s Brian Keyes (53-2.5).

Normal West Lady Wildcat Invitational @ Shirk Center

Springfield won the team title in this meet with 58 points ahead of Mattoon (50 points). One of the top performances in this meet belonged to Springfield’s Ozzy Erewele as she won the 60 Meter Dash by almost half a second. Her time of 7.58 was a seasonal best as well as tying for the fastest time in the state for that distance. Erewele also jumped a seasonal best of 17-8 to win the High Jump. DaeLin Switzer moved into the top ten in the state as she ran 9.32 to win the 60 Meter Hurdles. Switzer also cleared 5-6 to win the High Jump.

Pekin’s Paige Arseneau won a tight 1600 Meter Run. Arseneau ran 5:22.58 for the win ahead of 1A State Cross Country Champion Emma Argo of Eureka (5:24.35). Springfield Lanphier ran their best time of the year (1:47.94) in winning the 800 Meter Relay finishing more than two seconds ahead of Mattoon (1:50.36).

NIC-10 Boys Indoor Championships @ Rockford Auburn

Hononegah dominated in winning the team championship Wednesday night with 120 points. Belvidere North (73 points) and Machesney Park Harlem (70 points) finished second and third. State Meet record holder Deion McShane started his 2018 season on a high note. McShane set a new meet record in running 8.35 to win the 60 Meter Hurdles. Jalon Benson of Harlem set a new meet record in running 7.12 to win the 60 Meter Dash. He finished two hundredths of a second ahead of Guilford’s Stephan Linde (7.14).

Belvidere swept the horizontal jumps as Kalen Murray jumped 44-9.75 to win the Triple Jump and teammate Michael Kurtenbach jumped 21-4.75 to win the Long Jump.

Other Highlights

At Mahomet Seymour – Callan Whitehouse of Mahomet-Seymour cleared a personal best 16-0 (IL #2) to win the Pole Vault. Teammate Hunter Hendershot won the Shot Put with a 54-1.5 put.

At Monmouth (Titan Invitational – Illini West’s Connor Artman followed up his All-American performance in New York with a triple win in this meet. Artman jumped 23-4 to win the Long Jump, 7.13 to win the 60 Meter Dash, and 23.43 to win the 200 Meter Dash. Teammate Jacob Bryan ran 4:29.35 to win the 1600 Meter Run by almost 20 seconds.

At Sterling – In this small triangular meet, Geneseo’s Reed Vanderheyden won three individual events. Vanderheyden ran 8.63 to win the 60 Meter Hurdles, 53.34 to win the 400 Meter Dash, and 23.52 to win the 200 Meter Dash. Teammate Nick Swartzendruber ran 1:58.83 to win the 800 Meter Run ahead of Sterling’s Jacob Gebhardt (2:01.64).